Quick connect/disconnect coupling assemblies for small flexible tube applications and other applications are known in the art. Such couplings are often times utilized for biomedical applications, convenience handling, beverage dispensing, instrument connections, photochemical handling, as well as for many other applications.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,436,125, 5,052,725 and 5,104,158 each disclose a quick connect/disconnect coupling assembly including cooperating female and male couplings, each defining a fluid passageway therethrough. The male coupling is constructed for releasable attachment to the female coupling. The male coupling includes a seal for providing a fluid tight seal between the male and female couplings. The female coupling includes a releasable locking or quick connecting/disconnecting mechanism for locking the male and female couplings together in a coupled state. The locking mechanism includes a locking collar or plate which is slideably mounted in grooves formed in the female coupling. The plate slides between a first or released position and a second or locked position. In the locked state, an inner edge of the plate extends into the bore of the female coupling and engages a groove or indentation in the surface of the male coupling so as to lock the male and female coupling together.
Additionally, Nitto Kohki Co. Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan, illustrates on page 38 of its Quick Connective Fluid Coupler catalog a coupling having male and female couplings that are locked together by a slidable locking plate.
It has been found that prior art couplings that utilize a slidable locking plate can become inadvertently disconnected, which could potentially cause a fluid leakage or spill. In particular, the locking plate can be accidentally actuated to the first, released position, such as when the coupling and the fluid lines connected thereto are dropped and the locking plate hits the floor or when any inadvertent force is applied to the locking plate. When there is fluid flowing through the fluid lines connected to the coupling, and such an accidental actuation of the locking plate occurs, the male and female couplings can become partially or fully disconnected, thereby allowing fluid to escape. Such a fluid leakage is especially dangerous when the fluid in the fluid lines is hazardous to the environment or to humans.
What is needed then is an improved quick connect/disconnect coupling assembly having cooperating female and male couplings that is designed to prevent accidental disconnection of the male and female couplings, while retaining many of the advantages of the prior art coupling assemblies.